Punjaabi Support of Pervez Musharraf

Assalam Alaikum folks,

Some of you might have by now reached the mistaken conclusion that there exist no Musharraf supporters. Given the propaganda circulating on our television screens, I would not blame you for reaching this erroneous conclusion. But hey, we do exist. Many, many, many of us exist 🙂

Here is an example of Punjaabi support for President Musharraf on the UK’s desi DM Digital Channel. Often plenty of Musharraf supporters, Punjaabis, Pathaans, Urdu speakers etc., call DM Digital programmes and present their viewpoint in support of Musharraf in live programmes. Hope you enjoy this clip.

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Responses

I am worried that despite all these efforts, Musharraf’s days are numbered.

Let’s see all of us and may be revisit this blog again by March 2008 to check if this comment of mine is still there. (Previous ones have been deleted by the way).

By: Sajid Mahmood on November 14, 2007 at 2:16 pm

asa, thank you for your constructive comment. DM Digital is not a Pakistani based channel. It’s a UK desi channel. Moreover, like others, it is overwhelmingly anti-Musharraf, though now and then they do invite panellists putting forth the other side of the story and on their live programmes Musharraf supporters often call in.

Sajid, you know very well why I deleted your previous comments. If more such condescending comments displaying a holier than thou attitude creep in, I will have no hesitation to immediately delete them. Please read the terms relating to comment submission in the ‘About’ page prior to submitting comments.

I would like to keep the comments section neat and clean where people can express different views in a civil non-insultive manner.

I admire your effort in supporting your cause. But your attitude about freedom of expression is the same as King Musharaffs.

Lets not debate if Musharaff is popular or not. Just Answer the following questions.

1) The local media was closed so was CNN, BBC and Al JAzeera. The local media might be doing a conspiracy. Was CNN and BBC and the entire world media is also joined in this conspiracy?

2) Is the medias only crime was that it showed the sucide explosions. But wasnt it the governments responsibilty to stop the sucide bombs in the first place? If there were no bombs then it would have been shown on TV. Shoot the messanger not fix the problem.

3) There were 20 prisoners that were released on 6 November. These were convicted terrorists and people who were known to be sucide bombs.

4) Then there was the issue that the Judges were forced to give a favourable judgement as they were blackmailed. This is most immoral. Is this what the Pakistan army does to people?

5) PEMRA laws are designed to make everything PTV. Why doesnt the general just let media be free and if he is right come and explain to the people. Let the media know the truth? Why is he so hesitant to face his own people.

“I admire your effort in supporting your cause. But your attitude about freedom of expression is the same as King Musharaffs.”

I am sorry that you feel this way regarding my ‘attitude’ towards freedom of expression, without explaining why or what precisely you objected to.

“Lets not debate if Musharaff is popular or not. Just Answer the following questions.”

I don’t recall ‘debating’ it in the first place, but sure, let’s proceed to your questions:

“1) The local media was closed so was CNN, BBC and Al JAzeera. The local media might be doing a conspiracy. Was CNN and BBC and the entire world media is also joined in this conspiracy?”

First, I did not mention a ‘conspiracy’ in the manner you seem to suggest. Secondly, I am not sure if CNN, the BBC and al-Jazeera have been ‘shut’ in Pakistan. Their reporters are present in Pakistan and doing their job. I think you meant that the transmission of these channels has been suspended in Pakistan. If so, this is quite likely to be a temporary measure, which I do not necessarily endorse. But I can understand the reason why the government reacted against the local private Pakistani channels, which have done a rather horrendous job I think.

“2) Is the medias only crime was that it showed the sucide explosions. But wasnt it the governments responsibilty to stop the sucide bombs in the first place? If there were no bombs then it would have been shown on TV. Shoot the messanger not fix the problem.”

I did not say that the ‘crime’ committed by the channels was the mere showing of ‘suicide explosion’. They can do this also by leaving out the unethical bit: repeated showing of mangled bodies etc. This IS wrong. But this is not the only ‘crime’ they committed. They also allowed open abuse, slander, and disinformation to propagate on their channels, which I’ve noted elsewhere on this blog; they incited the masses to take to the streets; some even glorified terrorism (lal-masjid terrorists for instance) while undermining the efforts of the army at fighting militants (in Sawat for example). So, there are a host of issues to be considered here.

Secondly, yes, the government’s responsibility is to stop suicide attacks, but they cannot always be successful in this regard. No one can. Consider the Israelis: they are the most experienced and skilled in detecting and stopping suicide attacks. Yet even they cannot till this day attain a 100% success rate. That is impossible. The law enforcement agencies can only try their best to ward of such attacks by taking the required measures; but we can never expect them to be 100% successful.

“3) There were 20 prisoners that were released on 6 November. These were convicted terrorists and people who were known to be sucide bombs.”

I know nothing about this particular event and so cannot comment. But I would presume that the ones who ordered their release were the courts. This reminds me of Musharraf’s claim that known terrorists were freed by the courts without considering the evidence. In any case, I will attempt to investigate this issue. Also, I see no weight in the theory that the government deliberately released these known terrorists due to certain ulterior motives. I hope you do not accept such conspiracy theories 🙂

“4) Then there was the issue that the Judges were forced to give a favourable judgement as they were blackmailed. This is most immoral. Is this what the Pakistan army does to people?”

Favourable judgement about what? If the above is true, whatever the particular case, then yes such compulsion is wrong. But would you also agree with me that the way many lawyers reacted when a judgement went in favour of Musharraf was also immoral and wrong?

“5) PEMRA laws are designed to make everything PTV. Why doesnt the general just let media be free and if he is right come and explain to the people. Let the media know the truth? Why is he so hesitant to face his own people.”

You have not explained how PEMRA laws are supposedly “designed to make everything PTV” nor have you explained the ‘problems’ of PTV. Nonetheless, all countries, as far as I know, have certain rules, regulations and guidelines for the media to follow. There is nothing wrong in having a code of conduct in place. Freedom of speech and expression can take place without hurdles with a code of conduct.

Secondly, there is an element of dishonesty in your comment, with due respect. If we put aside the recent clamp down on the private channels and the unfortunate events which took place a few months ago, by large, overall, the media has experienced unprecedented freedom under Musharraf. For the major part it has been pretty much free, with little or no restrictions in place. I can immediately recall countless talk shows and programmes highly critical of Musharraf which have been airing for years, with no pressure ever being applied upon the media, and the many satirical comedy shows. One needs to be honest and acknowledge that for the major part, the government allowed much freedom to the media, the type it has never witnessed in Pakistan’s history. Credit should be given where it is due.

Having said this, I also acknowledge that the government too, at times, has made mistakes and taken actions they should have ideally avoided. But these mistakes do not wipe out the remarkable tolerance they have displayed for the major part.

One should be a bit reasonable and also realize that mistakes can never be fully avoided. The main goal is to remain on the right direction and continue on the path despite errors here and there.

By: uss017 on November 16, 2007 at 4:39 pm

Excellent effort … I totally agree with the Caller, as he represents the moderate voice within Pakistan. I too have my sources in the Rural Punjab and they are in fact, weary and frighten of BB/nawaz and group/mullahs/whoever else.
Musharraf has been targetted through a well thought out conspiracy whereby the vocal so called civil society of Pak was instigated and called opon to create anarchy.
We know this for a fact today. Pakistan is riddled with complex issues. We cannot let Pakistan regress at any cost: be it for Democracy or whatever.
Under Musharraf Pakistan is the third fastest growing Economy in the region after China and India.If that means nothing to these so called: Champions of Democracy then so be it ……We the moderate trust and believe in Musharraf and will stand with him against the destabilizing factor: in the name of survival.